Transcript

Ron Paul: I thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the motion to instruct on the comprehensive Iranian sanction bill was passed overwhelmingly, 400 to 11. 11 individuals said that this was not a good idea, I was one of those 11 and I’d like to explain why I think the sanction bill against the Iranians is very, very dangerous and not well thought out.

Sanctions are very serious. Sanctions are literally an act of war. When you prevent certain goods and services going into a country, it’s like a blockade. There’s no advantage to us to do this. The sanction bill literally says that any country that trades or sends oil into Iran, we will no longer trade with them. So if Russia sends in oil or gasoline or refined products, or China does, we are theoretically, under this bill, not to trade with them.

Can you think of anything more chaotic than having a trade war with China at this particular time? So often well intentioned foreign policy procedures backfire, they have unintended consequences, and too often there is blowback.

Today, unbelievably, we are engaged in so many places in the world, and we can’t afford it. Our foreign policy costs us a trillion dollars a year to operate. We’re in a 135 countries, we have over 700 bases throughout the world. We are engaged in military confrontation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. We’re bombing in Yemen and as well as having surrogates fighting in Somalia.

We’re flat out broke, the policy is driving our enemies into the hands of the Chinese, and here we are, looking for another war! It makes no sense whatsoever. The conversation today was nothing more than war propaganda on why we have to get ready to bomb the Iranians.

There is no proof, according to our CIA, that they’re actually working on a nuclear weapon. Now I’m sure they would like to, why not? Everybody around them have it, so it would be logical that if they’re surrounded and threatened and intimidated with all the people around them, why wouldn’t they want one. Of course they do. But others have it. They have never been found in violation of the non-proliferation treaty; never. And yet Pakistan, India and Israel don’t even belong, and they’re our friends and we give them money. Pakistan gets support from us, they have nuclear weapons, and they have been known to send nuclear technology to North Korea.

So the whole process makes so little sense. The language today was used that we have to go in because of the weapons of mass destruction, they’re going to have missiles and they’re going to attack us. It’s identical to the propaganda in 2002 and 2001 before we attacked Iraq. So the same process is occurring, try to generate all this excitement about the need to use hostilities.

Now a lot of individuals vote for sanctions that are basically anti-war and they don’t like the military option and they think this is an alternative. I think that is deeply flawed thinking, because sanctions lead to hostilities and if you commit to the sanctions you’re really committing to the next step. The sanctions of the 1990s and the year 2000 on Iraq eventually led to the hostilities and the war and the invasion. So what did that invasion of Iraq do? Did we find any Al-Qaida there? No, we found out that Saddam Hussein wouldn’t allow the Al-Qaida there. No weapons of mass destruction. We turned the country upside down. Hundreds of thousands of people injured and killed. We have suffered devastating problems from this. And what has happened? We turned the government of Iraq over to the Shiites who are allies with the Iranians. So that whole policy has actually backfired.

So now what we’re doing to the Iranians is driving them into the pockets of the Chinese. The Chinese are pretty good capitalists these days. They work hard, they produce, they sell us their goods and services. We pay them, they save their money and they’re starting to invest. So they’re investing around the world in natural resources. And what are we doing? All we’re doing is trying to take over the world with natural resources so we have control of oil.

This is a mercantilist idea, it’s ancient, and it takes you back to almost colonial times. So this, I think, shows that our policies are deeply flawed. I sure would have wished this vote would have come out differently and I warned this was a very dangerous vote.

(If you’ve found a spelling or transcription error, please notify us anonymously by selecting the misspelled text and then pressing Ctrl+Enter. Thank you!)

As an Iranian who’s living in Iran,I have to say that I find Ron Paul a decent and reasonable man.He understands the issues between Iran and the US,and has a good idea of the great economic and political potentials that the two countries can benefit from cooperating together.This man can definitely solve the current standoff that the two countries are in and make Iran ,as the most important and influential player in the region an ally to the US.
hope to see him running for 2012 presidential elections.

Ross

mohammad,there are many in the West who see the injustices being perpetrated upon Iran.It is all about stealing your oil, just like Iraq.

Many idiots in the West think that this will make their energy supplies more secure and cheaper if the US/Isarel have more control.The reality is that there will be less competition and the multi-nationals like BP,Shell and Caltex will just increase the price of fuel when they possess more oil sources.They care not for the consumer in the West, just how to maximise profits.

9:14 am: "ooo wow nice attempt at a ad hom! Did the reds steal the election from you? Where is McCarthy when you need him? Am I right?" - JBrown

Email Updates

Embrace liberty & stay in the loop

Sign up to receive free email updates from the RonPaul.com grassroots with the latest news, videos and liberty action alerts.

Disclaimer

RonPaul.com is maintained by independent grassroots supporters of Ron Paul. Neither this website nor the articles, posts, videos or photos appearing on it are paid for, approved, endorsed or reviewed by Ron Paul or his staff. For Ron Paul's official websites, visit the RonPaulLibertyReport.com and the Ron Paul Institute.